You're Not Good Enough (OW Series)
"You're Not Good Enough" is a mini-story that takes place in the Other World Series. The Story It was shortly after Hero had resided in Other World, that he was preparing himself for his first ever lesson from Master Kai, the night before the lesson, he and Vados were in the living quarters, talking about things. "So tell me, Hero," Vados asked politely. "What's your world like?" "Well, I live in a mushroom village with 99 other male Smurfs in a beautiful forest, which also houses many woodland creatures," Hero answered. "There are also other species that live in our forest called fairies, trolls, imps, ogres, and humans to smurf a few." "You said you live with 99 other males, don't you have females where you live?" Vados asked again. "Sadly, there's no such thing as a female Smurf," Hero explained. "According to what my Papa Smurf smurfed to me, we were created to be a one gender race." "That seems very strange," Vados replied. "How do you prevent going extinct?" "That's something my Papa Smurf hasn't smurfed to me since I'm still considered too young to know this sort of thing," Hero said. "Come on, you two!" another voice interrupted, sounding snarky. "It's late, and we're up early tomorrow for our lesson." "He's right!" Vados agreed. "Let's get some sleep, we've got a busy day tomorrow." Hero nodded in agreement before he laid down in his bed and went to sleep. ... The following morning, Hero woke up and got changed into his orange karate gi that was given to him the day before. He joined up with the other students at the dining quarters for breakfast. Hero noticed his breakfast looked like a long cylinder with what appeared to be vegetables contained within it. "Eh, Vados," Hero inquired. "What's this?" "It's Makizushi," Vados answered. "It's filled with sushi rice and ingredients such as raw fish, cooked fish and vegetables." Hero's eyes widened, "Eh, we Smurfs don't eat other animals," he said. "Don't worry, it's not real fish," Vados replied. "It's a substitute that gives the same nutrients as the real thing." Hero pondered his thoughts, even though the food resembled the real thing, he didn't want to consume it since it would against everything about being a Smurf. Though as Vados just told him, it wasn't the real thing. He picked up a set of chopsticks and took a piece to try. The taste was strange and new to him, but he persevered and consumed all of it. Master Kai stood up before his students, "Right everyone," he said. "After breakfast, before we begin our training. We must do our daily meditation." "Yes, Master," everyone answered back. "Meditation?" Hero inquired to Vados. "Daily Meditation is the way of clearing our mind to prepare itself for gaining new knowledge on how to control our abilities, Hero," Vados explained. "The more our minds are clear, the more knowledge it'll hold." Hero shook his head in understanding as he followed the others towards the Meditation chamber. ... Inside the chamber, Master Kai had asked his students to form lines with ten students each. Hero was sitting between Vados and the other student, who was rather snarky from the night before who vaguely resembled a male pixie from his home world. Master Kai sat down in front of them and crossed his legs. "Alright, my students," Master Kai began. "Firstly, I'd like you to relax your bodies and cleanse your mind of all thoughts." Everyone followed his instructions and closed their eyes, took deep breaths and concentrated hard to cleanse their minds. Hero struggled at first as his mind was full of memories of nothing but Papa Smurf and his fellow Smurfs and all the fun moments they all shared. The continuous thoughts got too much for Hero to bare and he ended up breaking his concentration. "I can sense one of us has broken concentration," Master Kai said. "It was the new guy, go figure," a male student said snarkily. "Shut up, Asgerd," Vados replied, coming to Hero's defense. "Hero's new here and it's his first lesson." "So what?" Asgerd asked back. "As long as he doesn't get in my way of becoming the strongest fighter in the universe. I could care less about him. I mean, look at him, he doesn't even look strong." Hero never said a word in response, he remembered Papa Smurf explaining to him to never lower himself to the same level as a bully, for he was told that all bullies were cowards and only bullied those weaker than them in order to make themselves feel bigger. "That's enough, Asgerd," Master Kai interrupted. "Get back to your meditation." "Yes, Master," Asgerd replied. Vados turned to face Hero, who could see a lone tear going down his face. "Don't take it personally, Hero," Vados consoled with a smile. "Asgerd's always had a big ego, that's just how he is. I'm sure you'll get there eventually, these things just take time." Hero turned and smiled back at her, before regaining his composure and proceeded with his meditation. ... It was sometime after meditation, that Master Kai prepared his students for combat training. He had then all positioned near the arena. Hero felt nervous as this was the first time he was actually going to fight someone, his heart pumped faster and faster in his chest and sweat began to fall from his head. "Oh, look, the new guy's pooping his pants," Asgerd mocked. "Shut your trap, Asgerd," Vados replied in Hero's defense. Hero did nothing but slowly turned his head away, he didn't how to respond. "All right, everyone," Master Kai announced, getting their attention. "Now, we're going to do some combat training. To see how everyone has progressed in their own studies, for Hero of course, this is his first time; so whoever I choose must at least give him a chance to develop." If I'm chosen, that's not going to happen, Asgerd thought to himself. I'm going to pulverize him until there's nothing left. "To start us off, I'm going to choose Hero to go one-on-one with Asgerd," Master Kai announced to everyone. Asgerd pumped his fist, this was exactly what he wanted. For Hero, however, he felt himself panicking at the very thought of fighting the person who had been mocking him from the very start. They got up from their spot and made their way onto the fighting stage, with each standing at each end. "Now, when the gong rings, the fight will commence," Master Kai said, as Hero and Asgerd prepared themselves to fight. As soon as the gong rang, both fighters lunged towards each other at great speed, when Hero tried to land the first punch, Asgerd disappeared instantly, leaving behind an afterimage of himself. Hero was left dumbfounded before Asgerd responded by swiftly kicking him at the side of his head, sending him flying across the arena. Hero quickly regained his composure and thought of multiple ways of how to combat Asgerd's greater speed, he thought of a strategy that could work, so he flew back towards Asgerd at great speed before quickly dashing to the side in an attempt to strike him from behind. Asgerd sniggered, "The classic dash-back maneuver! It never works!" He waited till Hero was close enough before turning to punch him right in the stomach, stopping him right in his track and also severely winding him. He delivered a powerful roundhouse kick to send Hero flying across the ring before teleporting right behind him to deliver a powerful upwards kick to Hero's back, sending him up into the sky at great speed. Asgerd chased after him and soon overtook Hero, he eventually got to a reasonable distance to charge up his energy. As Hero began to slow down, Asgerd had a fully charged up energy attack ready to use, and when Hero came to a near complete stop just before Asgerd, he briefly opened one eye and frowned back at him. Asgerd could only smirk back. "You're not good enough," he said. "And you never will be." With that, Asgerd fired his attack which engulfed Hero completely and he fell down towards the ground at great speed, before colliding violently and leaving behind a gaping hole. Asgerd landed and walked away victorious. The other students were left gobsmacked at what they just witnessed, Vados was really concerned about Hero, she began to panic in the event he didn't survive such an attack. It was too long before Hero managed to emerge from the rubble and slowly make his way out of the hole, the injuries he sustained were much too severe and he collapsed on the spot. "Take him to the medical unit and be quick about it!" Master Kai instructed. "Yes, Master!" Vados and another student responded. It seems Hero needs intense training to unlock his potential, it was wrong of me to put him in there with Asgerd, Master Kai thought to himself. Once he fully recovers, I'll train him myself in the Hyperbolic Time Chamber. ... It had been several days since the sparring session, and Hero had recovered in the medical unit, his body was still feeling a little tense. He woke up to find Master Kai, Vados, and another female at his bedside. "How are you feeling, Hero?" Vados asked. "I'm still feeling a bit sore after the session, but I should be fine," Hero replied. "You were lucky to survive Asgerd's blast like that," the other female added. "Normally, his opponents aren't very fortunate." "Hero, meet Cootie," Vados said, introducing her. "A fellow student of ours, and she has a powerful brain." Cootie laughed innocently. Master Kai eventually got their attention, "Can you two ladies please give me and Hero some time to talk?" he requested. "Yes, Master!" they responded with a bow of respect towards him. "Hero! I chose you to spar with Asgerd to check your potential against strong enemies and I noticed you tend to just go for an all out assault," Master Kai said. "There's much more to fighting that just pure strength." "How so, Master?" Hero wondered. "It's all about that perfect balance in knowing your opponents movements and using it to your advantage," Master Kai answered. "I can sense you have much potential to protect the lives of the innocent, so that's why I'll train you in a special room where we can complete a years worth of training in a day." "I'd be honored to receive this training, Master," Hero replied. Once Hero had been medically cleared to continue his training, he was taken by Master Kai to a building located a fair distance from the main training building, inside was a chamber with two side wings with housing, food supplies, bathing quarters and sleeping quarters. There appeared to be no night or day in the room, but the surroundings remained a constant bright iridescent white aurora. The room's boundaries appeared to stretch to infinity in all directions even though it appeared to have a definite atmosphere, limiting its size. "What is this place?" Hero asked, in awe of what he was looking at. "This is the Hyperbolic Time Chamber, Hero," Master Kai replied. "This is where I, and any I deem to have potential, train to further improve our fighting skills and use of our abilities." "You said I had potential?" Hero inquired again. "I do," Master Kai said. "I sensed it when you sparred with Asgerd." Hero followed Master Kai out onto the main area of the chamber and he suddenly found himself pushed to by the ground by an invisible force. He couldn't move his arms and legs a single inch. "Help!" Hero called out. "I can't move!" "I configured this chamber to have 10 times the gravity of that of your home world, Hero," Master Kai said, assisting him back to the main entrance. "I can disable it until I feel you are ready to deal with fighting in stronger gravity." "Yes, Master," Hero said, before he and Master Kai began their training. ... It was several days after Hero's secret training session with Master Kai that Hero felt much more comfortable with not only with his style of fighting, but also learning new abilities and coming up with various strategies in the process. Master Kai had gathered his students once again at the arena, and had chosen Hero to go one-on-one with Asgerd once again, feeling eager as to how it will go this time. Hero didn't bother with his orange karate gi, but instead went with his traditional white Smurf hat and pants. He stood across the arena from Asgerd, feeling hopeful that the intense training he endured will make him victorious in his rematch. "You ready to get beaten to a pulp again?" Asgerd boasted. "If you think I'm gonna be a pushover again, then you're mistaken," Hero answered back adamantly. "We'll see about that," Asgerd said. "Bring it on!" With a little twitch in his foot, Hero charged towards Asgerd with great speed, willing to put his new skills to the test. The dash-back maneuver? Really? You think I'm stupid enough to fall for that? Asgerd thought to himself, as he threw a punch at the oncoming Hero, only for him to slowly disappear from sight. "What the?" Asgerd said, stunned as to what just transpired. He turned round and seen Hero smirking at him. "How could you learn the Afterimage technique so soon?" "Just intense training during off hours," Hero teased. "I wasn't going to give up the chance of besting you." "You'll never be better than me, you wretch!" Asgerd barked loudly. "You hear me! No one's better than me." Hero extended this right arm and taunted Asgerd by moving his fingers back and forth, "If you're so powerful, then show me," he said. Asgerd screamed so loud that his voice echoed all around the arena, the other students thought he had a superiority complex. He charged at Hero, who prepared himself for anything that Asgerd could throw at him, and tried landing a heavy punch, but Hero easily evaded it; for he knew Asgerd was blinded by his rage. "Don't get cocky just because you've learned new moves!" Asgerd thundered, as he charged at Hero once again, with each fist missing its intended target. He tried to land a hard chop, but Hero performed a back flip to avoid it before he charged towards Asgerd, with the two proceeded to go into a flurry of punches and kicks. Hero stopped Asgerd's punch with his left hand, and delivered a powerful punch with his right hand, sending Asgerd back several feet and making his feet dig into the ground. Asgerd's rage grew more, he conjured up huge red ball of energy and launched it at Hero, who in turn, fired a beam of his own energy through it; destroying it almost instantly, and wasn't even affected by the explosion at all. He cancelled it out?! Impossible! Asgerd thought to himself, before he and Hero went into a flurry on punches and kicks once again, only this time, Hero was the one who was coming out on top. Asgerd went into a blinding rage and fired out energy balls continuously. Hero did continuous back flips to avoid each and every one of them before jumping over the explosion. Asgerd, once again, continued to bombard Hero with energy balls, Hero ran back and forth between whatever space he could find in order to get close. When he did get close enough, he punched Asgerd to knock him off balance and proceeded to deliver a combination of punches and kicks before knocking Asgerd back. Asgerd went to deliver a powerful punch, but Hero stopped him in his tracks, Hero looked into his eyes and seen nothing but rage, before flicking him away like he was nothing. Asgerd tried to immediately deliver a punch, but Hero side-stepped him and delivered a much more powerful punch, sending him flying into a wall out of bounds. "Hero's won!" a student proclaimed. "Not exactly," Master Kai corrected. "Asgerd's feet have to touch the ground, and they haven't, so unless he falls to the ground, this fight continues." Asgerd regained his composure, freed himself from the wall, and flew back to the arena, gasping for air. "This can be, I won't lose!" Asgerd thundered. "I can't lose." Hero just looked at him, awaiting for Asgerd to make a move. "My strength is absolute! My strength is unbound!" Asgerd raged on. "All is meaningless without victory, to be defeated is to lose everything." he then began to reminisce past traumatic memories. "Just like then... I won't go through that ever again! That's why... That's why...!" He then became so angry that he unleashed so much pent up energy all at once, shrouding himself in a blazing storm of red energy that engulfed the entire arena even to the point of reaching the spectators. "ASGERD! CALM YOURSELF AT ONCE!!" Master Kai shouted. Hero shielded himself from the raging flames, he could sense Asgerd's energy was increasing dramatically. Once the event was over, Hero looked at and seen Asgerd was now surrounded by a red aura, his clothes singed in some places. So, this is Asgerd's true power? Hero thought to himself. This could either be good, or really bad ... "Master Kai," one of the students said. "What's going on?" Master Kai sighed deeply, "Asgerd's taking this fight too seriously, he believes if he's beaten, then all his training will be for nothing. I can sense he brought out this power because of his traumatic past." "What traumatic past, Master?" Vados asked. "It's something he's entrusted to me, something he refuses to talk about," Master Kai said. "If I explained it here, then it could make him feel worse than he already is." Asgerd charged at Hero, and using his now enhanced speed and power, took out all his anger upon him by completely beating him to a bloody pulp on the arena floor, Hero had no chance to counter during the beating. Asgerd was about to finish Hero off when he saw him use whatever strength he could muster just to get back on his feet. "I'm surprised you still have strength left," Asgerd said coldly. Hero struggled to get to this feet, "This isn't over, Asgerd," he said, his eyes remaining closed. "Not until my final breath, I will stand my ground and fight to the very end." "That can be arranged," Asgerd said, as he made a fist and powered it up with his energy. "This fight ends here." Hero still didn't look at him, he appeared in a deep meditative state. As Asgerd went to deliver the final blow to end their bout, he remembered everything Asgerd had said, before he disappeared from Asgerd's sight and was standing behind him. Asgerd turned to face him as Hero slowly turned to face him back, his body was soon covered in a bluish white aura, his white Smurf hat and pants now appeared to be silver, but the white fabric only became reflective giving it a silver look. Hero opened his eyes, his irises were now silver and the expression on his face was stoic. Asgerd thought nothing of it and tried to punch him, but Hero dodged it easily. Asgerd then tried to do a flurry of punches, but Hero dodges each and every one with ease; before responding with a strong punch to Asgerd's abdomen, flooring him. Master Kai and the other students were surprised by the sudden change of events. "Not only did Hero dodge that attack, but he hit Asgerd with a powerful punch!" Vados said. "Something's different from before too." "Yes. Hero's emitting a tremendous amount of heat, but..." a fellow student commented. "His energy seems frighteningly calm," Cootie added. "Let us observe for now." another student insisted. "After all, this is the first time we've seen this happen." Master Kai just stared at Hero, Is it possible? Hero, have you managed to tap into it? Hero looked towards Asgerd, took a couple of steps and as if by magic, was right in his face trying to deliver a kick, which Asgerd avoided at the last possible moment. Asgerd tried to punch Hero, but his fist appeared to phase right through him, before they countered each other with a punch. Hero flew back across the arena, closest to the spectators, with Asgerd in hot pursuit. With a slight twitch of his right foot, Hero avoided the oncoming attack and stared down at his hands. This form, it's the same when I stood up for Pushover and fought Hefty, Hero though to himself, before he turned back to face Asgerd. "Hero's form! It is!" Cootie cried out. "There's no way! That form is mythical," another student said. "Master, do you know what that form is?" a third student asked. Master Kai smiled, "Migatte no Gokui," he replied. The students looked at him in confusion. "He means Autonomous Ultra Instinct," Vados corrected. "It's a very rare and highly advanced mental state. It is notorious among the gods for being exceptionally difficult to master, even for them." Asgerd charged at Hero, and they both fought with continuous flurries of punches, before Hero grabbed Asgerd's hand. "No matter what, I will never lose!" Asgerd raged, as he poured his energy into his fist, causing a big explosion and sending Hero flying across the arena, Asgerd fired another energy beam without much hesitation, Hero dodged the beam and took to the air. Asgerd fired off continuous energy balls to cause Hero distraction. Hero looked up through the smoke and saw Asgerd prepare a much more stronger energy attack. Asgerd launched the attack, and Hero countered with the new attack he learned: the Kamehameha. "Ha!" Hero said, as he launched to attack. Both beams collided and the two fought over control in the struggle. The fight seemed evenly matched, until Asgerd unleashed his energy and overpowered Hero's attack, causing it to disappear almost instantly. Hero looked on in shock, unable to respond, as Asgerd's energy beam came towards him. "It's over!" Asgerd proclaimed, as his attack engulfed Hero completely. Hero's echoing screams could be heard all around. "HERO!" Vados screamed, as they watched the attack explode violently, causing rubble to be thrown everywhere. A large crater and tons of smoke was all that remained after the explosion, before the smoke quickly began to spiral and leap into the sky and then a blue light appeared within, Hero quickly appeared, completely unfazed. He charged at Asgerd with sheer determination, Asgerd was caught in surprise, he didn't think Hero would survive the blast. Impossible! How? Asgerd thought to himself, before he and Hero were once again fighting each other in a flurry of punches and kicks. Hero managed to get the upper-hand and quickly blasted Asgerd point blank with an energy attack, sending Asgerd close to the edge of the arena, while he was sent flying backwards. Asgerd withstood the blast as much as he could before he finally sent it flying into the sky, he looked at Hero who was using one of the outer pillars to give him an extra speed boost, and he came flying towards him at breathtaking speeds, readying a punch. "Our bout ends here, Asgerd!" Hero said as he came charging in. Asgerd prepared himself to deal with whatever Hero had in store, as Hero approached, he prepared a powerful punch before suddenly feeling a sharp sensation go through his entire body, blood exploded violently from his back and he slumped to the ground and skidded just in front of Asgerd. Hero tried to get back on his feet, but he felt as if all his strength had just suddenly left him, black lightning bolts suddenly shot out of him and he shouted in agonizing pain. "What happened?!" Cootie asked, sounding incredibly worried. "The limit-breaking power of the gods..." Master Kai explained. "I didn't think the toll would be this great." "But Hero's still very young," Vados said. "This could kill him!" Asgerd just looked on, he didn't wish their bout ended in such a fashion, but he wanted to win. He pointed his hand at Hero, who had no strength in his body whatsoever, and prepared an energy attack. "Even with Ultra Instinct, you still couldn't beat me," Asgerd told Hero. "But I'll admit, you did push me further than anyone ever did, and for that, you have my respect." Hero just groaned in pain as Asgerd blasted him point blank and sent him flying out-of-bounds, thus bringing their bout to its conclusion. "Everyone, we're done here," Master Kai said. "All of us could learn a lesson from this, to never let someone get the better of us and to lose control of our emotions, for our emotions are tied to our abilities." "Yes, Master," everyone replied as they left the arena. Master Kai walked over the Hero and carefully held him in his arms, he looked down at his unconscious student. Not only did you tap into Autonomous Ultra Instinct, you also showed us its toll on the body, Master Kai thought to himself. I'm surprised your young body could even handle this kind of power, let alone the severe life threatening consequences, you'll definitely become a great guardian if you train very hard. Master Kai then headed for the medical quarters to get Hero treated for his injuries, he knew Hero had so much potential and he was more than willing to help Hero bring it out.Category:Mini-stories Category:A Heroic Smurf's articles Category:Other World Series stories